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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204179">play practice</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_love_your_light/pseuds/i_love_your_light'>i_love_your_light</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Childhood, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Stage Kiss, Theater Nerd Zuko (Avatar), They are babies (probably like 9 or 10 years old), Zuko writes a play and his friends act it out</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 08:20:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,521</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27204179</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_love_your_light/pseuds/i_love_your_light</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Mai is halfway through a serious monologue when she notices Ty Lee and Azula giggling.  Suspiciously, she looks between them, and then at Zuko, who looks sheepish and refuses to meet her eyes.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>  <em>Mai skims quickly over her page of the script and then sees it.  At the bottom of the page.  A stage direction that says that her and Zuko’s characters kiss. </em></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Mai/Zuko (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>78</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>play practice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They hear Azula sing-songing down the corridor before they see her.  “Zuzu’s written a pla-ay! Zuzu’s written a pla-ay!”</p><p>“Azula, <em>stop it</em>, give it <em>back</em>!” Zuko’s familiar voice calls after her, getting closer.  Mai straightens her back at the sound, smoothing her robes.  Ty Lee notices and gives her a knowing grin.  Mai just glares back.</p><p>The two siblings round the corner into the garden, Azula skipping ahead proudly as Zuko flails behind her, flushed.</p><p>“Girls!” Azula announces, holding a pile of parchment high above her head.  “Who wants to read Zuzu’s masterpiece?”</p><p>“Azula,” Zuko groans, hiding his face in his hands.  Mai can’t help a small smile from creeping over her face.  There’s no reasonable explanation for why she finds her friend’s brother’s awkwardness so adorable, no logic behind it.  Her parents are always talking about <em>strategy</em> and <em>political advantages</em>, but it doesn’t seem like her feelings care all that much about that boring stuff.  Zuko pouts, looking to Mai for help.  As soon as their eyes meet, her cheeks go red and she is suddenly very interested in the grass around her.  </p><p>“Ooh, a play!  That’s great, Zuko, I want to read it!” Ty Lee says brightly, seemingly oblivious to Zuko’s embarrassment.</p><p>“It’s not very good,” Zuko mumbles, “and it’s not <em>done</em> yet.”</p><p>Azula ignores him.  “There’s three main characters, so you can all act them out.  I”ll be director.” </p><p>Zuko splutters, but Azula is already passing out the pages to her actors.  “Places!” she demands, grinning.</p><p>Mai is surprised by how much she enjoys the little play Zuko has written.  From her limited theater knowledge, she can kind of tell that some of the characters and plot points have been based off of popular shows like <em>Love Amongst the Dragons</em> and <em>Lightning Strikes Thrice</em>.  But while most plays like those are terribly boring in the way that they have the girl characters as flouncy weak damsels in distress who must be rescued by the big strong boy character, Mai is thrilled to find Zuko has pretty much flipped that trope on its head.  Zuko’s character, a Fire Nation soldier, gets captured by the nefarious Dark Air Spirit (played masterfully by Ty Lee).  And it is Mai’s character, the underestimated firebender noble, who is the only one who can rescue him.  </p><p>Azula offers unsolicited critique and edits in between scenes, to which the actors mostly roll their eyes and comply or pause the production as the siblings bicker over changes.  But for the most part it is a joyous time.  Azula’s keen eye and expertise show strongly as she helps choreograph a fight scene. Mai relishes in the chance to embody a character that her parents would probably find undignified or unladylike.  Ty Lee breaks into giggles each time she tries to do a menacing evil character laugh.  Even Zuko seems to have shed most of his self-consciousness, grinning and mouthing along to his script from the sidelines as Mai’s character dramatically confronts the Dark Air Spirit.  </p><p>The play’s climax approaches- Mai’s character has freed Zuko’s character from his cell, and now it is looking like they will have to battle their way out together through the Dark Air Spirit’s army of vicious flying lemurs.  Mai is halfway through a serious monologue when she notices Ty Lee and Azula giggling.  Suspiciously, she glances between them, and then at Zuko, who looks sheepish and refuses to meet her eyes.</p><p>Mai skims quickly over her page of the script and then sees it.  At the bottom of the page.  A stage direction that says that her and Zuko’s characters kiss.</p><p>Mai feels her cheeks heat again, and even though she is pointedly <em>not</em> looking at Zuko, she notices him fidgeting in her periphery as the other girls’ laughter grows.</p><p>“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” they’re chanting now, gleeful.  Mai wishes she was an earthbender and could bury herself under ground so no one could see her blush.  </p><p>Zuko starts to ramble, panicking, “We can skip that scene! We don’t have to, uh… do <em>that</em> if-if you don’t want to.  But... if you do want to, uh… um… <em>do</em> you want to?”</p><p>Mai can already imagine the relentless teasing that would ensue if they did.  Agni, she’d never live it down.  The fountain incident had been brought up for <em>weeks</em>, and that hadn’t involved <em>kissing</em>.</p><p>Zuko is still looking at her, nervous.  Mai shakes her head furiously, scowling slightly, and crosses her arms in front of her.  Zuko deflates a bit but carries on, “Ok! Dark Air Spirit, it’s your scene next. Um, and that’s all I have written so far.” </p><p>“Aww, man,” the other two girls protest, disappointed.  Zuko and Mai sit on opposite ends of their mock stage to watch, as far away from each other as they can be.</p><p>Mai hardly pays attention to Ty Lee’s final monologue.  Her thoughts are racing just as fast as her pulse.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>Later that afternoon, Mai is knocking on Zuko’s door.  He looks up from his desk with wide eyes, ink dripping down from his brush onto the page.  Apparently he was already making edits to his script.</p><p>“Oh, Mai.  Hi.” he says.  There’s an awkward moment of silence where Mai hovers in the doorway.  “Do you want to come in?”  Zuko offers.</p><p>Mai nods and enters, shutting the door behind her.  That persistent blush is back on her face, as much as she wishes it would disappear.</p><p>“I liked your play,” she says, fidgeting with her hands.</p><p>“Thanks,” Zuko says, ducking his head. “Sorry about, um, you know.”</p><p>“It’s okay.”</p><p>“I get it, you know?” Zuko’s brow is furrowed and he looks so painfully insecure in a way that makes Mai want to throw something at whoever told him to feel that way.  “I know why you don’t want to do that scene.  I get why you don’t want to, um, kiss me.” </p><p>Mai kicks at the ground.  “I didn’t want to kiss you <em>in front of Ty and ‘Zula.</em>”</p><p>Zuko blinks.  “Oh.”</p><p>“But if you want,” Mai tries to look neutral as she continues. “We can do the scene now.  For practice.  Or whatever.”</p><p>“Oh.” Zuko says again.  There’s a strong flush on his face too, and Mai feels slightly less self conscious about her own.  “Um, yeah.  We- we could do that.  Yeah.”</p><p>Mai unrolls the script from where it’s bunched up in her pocket.  Her heart is beating wildly and her nervous excitement makes everything feel a bit fuzzy.  <em>This must be what those romance plays are talking about</em>, she thinks, though she’s still not sure why all the ladies have to faint and cry about it.</p><p>“I’ve faced all kinds of dangers all over the world to get here,” she reads, picking up where they left off. “I’ve seen great storms and terrifying warriors.  I’ve journeyed through strange lands and won many battles, all to get to you.”</p><p>“But why?” Zuko recites from memory, stepping closer to her, “I’m just one soldier.  You could do anything you want with your power.  You could have all the riches.  You could rule the entire world.”</p><p>“Some things are more important than all that,” Mai says, taking a deep breath before saying the next line.  “Some things like love.”</p><p><em>They kiss</em>, the stage direction reads.</p><p>Mai looks up from the page.  Determination is set on her face.  Zuko, on the other hand, looks so nervously unsure that his shoulders are almost bunched up around his ears.  Mai thinks he looks like one of those turtleducks that he loves when they retreat into their shells.  Mai thinks he looks adorable.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Zuko squeaks out, breaking character, just before Mai steps forward and kisses him.</p><p>It’s incredibly short, just a peck, and Mai briefly wonders why this is what all of the fuss is about.  Sure, it’s soft and it’s not <em>bad</em>, but logically it’s just two people kind of smushing their faces together for a second.</p><p>The nonlogical side of her grins widely at Zuko after she pulls back, though, and Zuko is grinning back and looking a bit dazed, which makes Mai giggle, and she is <em>very</em> glad that no one else is around so she can just let herself feel freely for a minute.  She knows Zuko would never tease her for that, would never make fun of the silly way she laughs.  This, this is safe, both of them increasingly flushed as they try to speak but can’t through their giggles, not laughing at each other, no, not laughing for any reason other than that there’s simply no other way to express the bundle of wonderful emotions bubbling through them.</p><p>Eventually they both collapse on the nearby couch, side by side.</p><p>“Do you know how it ends?” Mai asks, still smiling.  “Your play, I mean.”</p><p>Zuko brightens even more, if possible.  He launches into a description of the final battle scene, and how the two lovers defeat the Dark Air Spirit side by side.  Mai leans her head on his shoulder as he talks, and for just a moment she believes in a happily ever after.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i literally wrote this in a couple of hours bc i forgot maiko week started today and i wanted to do this prompt SO this is not beta'd and also like... not my best work. oops.  still cute tho hopefully</p><p>the Dark Water Spirit is the canon villain in Love Amongst the Dragons so of course aspiring kid playwright zuko is going to do his own version of that with just a different element (((because that's how i wrote plots as a kid)))</p><p>let me know your thoughts!! comments give me so much serotonin!!!</p><p>you can find me on tumblr @i-love-your-light :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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